HAPPY 100th, BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA - Feet Planted in Tradition, Eyes Focused on the Future

While many of today’s youth are becoming digital drones faster than a 3G Network, one organization has stood the test of time. Even though the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) is busy celebrating its 100th anniversary, the iconic group has shown the ability to always “Be Prepared,” developing the character of young people by teaching about self-reliance and social service while stepping into the modern world.

With thousands of members in our area, the BSA is one of the largest and most recognizable youth groups in the country, Since its inception in 1910, the organization has welcomed over 110 million members, and this year alone boasts a roster of four million.

With Cub Scouts, for boys in grades one to five, and Boy Scouts, for boys in grades six to 12, both programs concentrate on community service as one of themain requirements to advance through the ranks. Although the Boy Scout experience is traditionally completed at the age of 18, Venture Scout and Learning for Life programs are available for both genders between the ages of 14 and 20. The Learning for Life program offers career awareness sessions in the Central Bucks School District to all ninth-grade students. The Exploring program offers teens the opportunity to apply their interests by volunteering with organizations like the Doylestown Fire Company and the Central Bucks Ambulance and Rescue.

Sam Griga became involved with scouting as a young boy and is now the Lenape District Director of the BSA, which includes about 2,000 area young people in the Central Bucks, New Hope-Solebury and Centennial School Districts. And while most of us envision a group of boys sitting around a campfire when we think of the scouts, Griga says the BSA is so much more. Acting as a community liaison between his district and the community, Griga helps organize everything from service projects to fund-raisers. “We’ve teamed with various organizations and community groups throughout Doylestown, such as the Central Bucks YMCA and the Mercer and Michener Museums, to benefit the young people of the area,” he says. In the past year, Doylestown-area scouts have collected 35 tons of food for their annual Scouting for Food Campaign, donating their collections to programs administered by the American Red Cross, the Doylestown Presbyterian Church and Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, to name just a few.

Doug Pedersen serves as the Scout Master for Troop 24 of the Lenape District. The Buckingham resident has been an adult leader for the past five years. His experience with the organization began as a young boy in Vineland, N.J., where his love of nature grew through his time as a scout. “While the outdoors stuff was obviously enjoyable and something I was always into, I took away from scouting a big sense of self-sufficiency,” he says. “As an adult, I realize I still remember a lot of things I picked up from those experiences.”

And while it’s the great outdoors and social service that scouting is most associated with, Pedersen says the organization has evolved to meet the changing social climate. Some traditional merit badges – like pathfinding, carpentry and signaling and tracking – are being integrated with technology to bolster and broaden young people’s experiences. Pedersen says more modern options like a “geocashing” merit badge helps scouts learn to use GPS systems. And while many kids – and adults – see the internet strictly as a social networking tool, Pedersen says it has also helped his troop grow by giving members access to resources never before available. When the members of Troop 24 reach out to the community for possible service projects, it gives them the opportunity to make connections that could lead to interests and careers that might last a lifetime.

Another way scouting has tried to leave its mark in today’s environmentally conscious climate is to leave no mark at all. “Leave No Trace,” a program initiated by the U.S. Forestry Service in the 1990s, has been embraced by scouts all over the nation. “When I was out there camping years ago, the impact wasn’t so large,” Pedersen says. “Now, you can really devastate an area with the numbers of people that use camp grounds and other places. The idea is to leave an area and make it look like you were never there.”

So it, too, can also be enjoyed 100 years later.

Go online at buckscountybsa.org